The present invention relates generally to medical imaging, and, more particularly to techniques for visualization of various types of volume-volume fusion.
It is often desirable to combine medical images. Consider for example, fusion between positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) volumes. The PET volume voxel values measure the functional aspect of the examination, typically, the amount of metabolic activity. The CT volume voxel values indicate the X-ray absorption of the underlying tissue and therefore show the anatomic structure of the patient. A multi-planer reformat (MPR) cross-sectional view of a PET volume typically looks somewhat like a noisy and low-resolution version of the corresponding MPR cross-section from the CT volume. However, what a user is usually most interested in seeing are the high intensity values from the PET volume, and seeing where these xe2x80x9chot-spotsxe2x80x9d are located within the underlying anatomical structure that is clearly visible in the CT volume.
A conventional MPR-MPR fusion only allows a user to see the relationship between the two volumes, a cross-section at a time. Thus, the user must look at all the cross-sections to understand the relationship fully. This is both time-consuming and prone to error.
Given the importance of providing useful visualization information, it would be desirable and highly advantageous to provide new techniques for visualization of a volume-volume fusion that overcome the drawbacks of the prior art.
The present invention provides techniques for combining various types of diagnostic images to allow a user to view more useful information. In one embodiment of the present invention, a composite image is obtained by fusing MPR and maximum intensity projection (MIP) images or minimum intensity projection (MinIP) images. The MPR image is obtained from a CT scan, and the MIP image is obtained from a PET scan. The resulting superimposed images help a physician to see the diagnostic information in context. In other embodiments of the present invention, techniques for an MIP-MIP overlay, volume rendering (VR)-MIP overlay, and VR-MPR overlay are provided.
A system for visualizing a volume-volume fusion comprises a projector for creating a projected image using a first volume, a reformatter for creating a planar representation image using a second volume, and a combiner for fusing the projected image and the planar representation image, to create a composite image.
Alternatively, the system for visualizing a volume-volume fusion, comprises a first projector for creating a first projected image using a first volume, a second projector for creating a second projected image using a second volume, and a combiner for fusing the first projected image and the second projected image, to create a composite image.
In addition, a method for visualizing a volume-volume fusion, comprises creating a first image using a first volume, creating a second image using a second volume, the second image a projected image, and combining the first image and the second image, to create a composite image.
These and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.